Societal

Capital/Base

Official Language

Currency

Historical

Formed From

Date Established

Date Fragmented

Date Dissolved

March, 2500

Status

Defunct

The Terran Confederacy, also known as the Confederacy of Man, the Confederacy, the Confederation, and colloquially known as the Confederates, was a terran government dominated by the Old Families of Tarsonis.

The Confederate government was determined to establish a foothold on New Folsom, as it was the richest source of the catalytic elements required to forge neosteel within Confederate territory. It conscripted a team of experts, materials specialists, and terraforming engineers for this task. The New Folsom Confederate Mine was constructed on one of the stabler lava lakes and was soon producing the materials necessary for the Confederacy to begin building a new fleet of battlecruisers. Those same catalytic elements were discovered in the Sara system not long afterward, but Confederate financial analysts were unwilling to let such an expensive investment sit unused for long, so the mine was easily transformed into New Folsom Prison. People who were enemies of the Confederacy, but too valuable (or popular) to kill, were sent there and used to work the mine's machinery. Requiring only a minimal guard staff and robotic sentries, New Folsom served as an inexpensive source of unrefined ore and minerals.[8]

Chau Sara and Mar Sara were colonized by an expedition from Tarsonis several years later. Mar Sara formed the eighth of the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy. Although twelve major settlements were established on Mar Sara, and its mining industry was seen as a key strategic asset, it was always a backwater colony compared to Chau Sara, which was more prosperous.[9]

Agria became one of the Confederacy's primary botanical reserves after DoctorBernard Hanson terraformed what was then a relatively barren fringe world and founded a small farming colony there. Due to its status, the Agria colony boasted a wide range of cutting-edge research and terraforming equipment.[10]

Char was settled to exploit its fantastically rich reserves of heavy metals to fuel the rapidly growing Confederate economy. Although Char earned a place among the thirteen core worlds of the Confederacy, it became a source of friction between the Confederacy and independent mining guilds operating out of Moria.[11]

By 2478 the Confederacy routinely stole Kel-Morian-associated mining claims such as the Paladino Belt and Sonyan, frequently claiming the mines were illegal or one of the miners was a criminal before moving their troops in. To make matters worse, rebellions and riots were becoming increasingly common, Korhal serving as a prime example. The Confederacy was rotting from the inside and its leaders were willing to do whatever it took to keep themselves in power.[12]

The Confederacy relied heavily on Shiloh's agricultural output during the wars, and there were hard times when the government was slow in remunerating the overtaxed farmers. These conditions were eased somewhat by the Farm Aid program, but they created lingering resentment among the settlers.[18]

During the war, Confederate taxes and recruiting goals increased, while the Old Families made much money from war profiteering and even corruption.[19]

During the conflict in 2487, the Confederacy encountered an alien species on the Fringe Worlds, which would later be named the zerg. They captured specimens of larva, and began to investigate their connection to ghosts and psionics. In order to cover the existence of these so-called "xenomorphs," the Confederacy engineered a plague on Fringe Worlds where zerg had been encountered, claiming it was a strain of cholera.[20] Research on the zerg resulted in projects such as the Megamedes Project to attempt to weaponize the creatures.[21]

The Guild Wars ended in 2489 with a skewed peace treaty whereby the Confederacy appropriated almost all of the mining guilds affiliated with the KMC. In the final analysis, the wars assured the Confederacy's supremacy in the Koprulu sector. The might of the Confederacy continued to grow as its prospectors claimed world after world with their reckless expansionism.[4]

The Confederacy made a number of encroachments on Umoja's territories, which were openly opposed by the Umojan Protectorate. However, war was never declared.[22]

The Confederacy's postwar presence on Char was limited to a few maintenance teams for automated mining sites. All personnel lived on Char Aleph, which was built in near orbit over the planet.[11]

It was rumored that the Confederacy was supplied with fuels and resources by the KMC. The Confederate forces were banned from prosecuting the KMC for any potentially criminal action.[4]

Power and wealth of the Confederacy

The Confederacy entered an economic boom as the result of the war.[2] As the Old Families built their personal fortunes and vied for more power, they became more avaricious and corrupt. Discontent and outright insurgency built up as the divide between rich and poor became ever wider. The Old Families responded with increasingly violent measures to keep the colonies in line.[13] Confederate enforcement agencies abused their citizenry,[4] causing many rebel groups, such as the Colonial Liberation Army, to rise up against the Confederates. These groups were rarely any match for the Confederate forces.[23]

When the citizenry of Korhal instigated numerous riots against the local Confederate militia, the Confederates responded by declaring martial law throughout Korhal, but it only agitated the populace even more. Fearing that their most treasured and pampered colony turning against them might instigate other colonies to revolt, the Confederacy decided to end the crisis on Korhal by any means necessary. All of the Confederate outposts on Korhal were captured by Senator Angus Mengsk. Seeking to contain the situation, the Confederacy pulled their forces from Korhal and withdrew their fleet from its skies.[4]

The Confederacy sent Sarah Kerrigan[24] and two other ghosts to Korhal. They infiltrated Mengsk's towering, fortress-like headquarters and assassinated him along with his wife and young daughter, taking his head with them. A crippling guerrilla war was subsequently waged against the Confederacy by Arcturus Mengsk, whose group struck at various Confederate bases and installations, costing the Confederacy billions of credits in men, machines and equipment.[4]

Two years later,[12] rumors reached the Confederate government that Mengsk had formed an alliance with the Umojan Protectorate. They responded by obliterating Korhal with a salvo of one thousand Apocalypse-class nuclear missiles.[4]

In the Sara system, Lieutenant Colonel Horace Warfield called in his resignation the very minute he heard of the attack. The Iron Justice cut off all contact with the surrounding military network and went silent. Confederate forces labeled Warfield a deserter and hunted him throughout the Sara system and beyond.[14]

During the conflict, the Confederacy used mercenaries provided by Graven Hill and Remy Harris. This came to an end after Confederate forces captured a group of mercenary-backed rebels and discovered their source. The Confederates then raided their business headquarters.[25]

The Confederacy peppered Universal News Network broadcasts with propaganda[26] in an effort to portray Mengsk as a terrorist and a madman. However, Confederate enforcement agencies were continually confounded by the Sons of Korhal, who won countless victories over the Confederacy.[4]

During his raids, he discovered a ghost, Sarah Kerrigan, and some unidentified creatures (known as xenomorphs) at Vyctor 5, where experiments were being conducted with ghosts and the xenomorphs. At the time, these xenomorphs seemed insignificant to him. However, the Confederates had discovered them five years previously and had wiped out the Fringe World colonies they had infested with a disease they claimed was cholera.

His forces were largely ignored by the Confederate-controlled media until he launched a daring attack against the Confederate Ghost Academy on Tarsonis. After this incident, the Confederates declared the Sons of Korhal to be outlaws and relentlessly hunted them down. Rebellious colonies, however, often secretly allied with them.[20]

Confederate experiments with the xenomorphs continued, often getting out of control. A piece of technology devised by the Confederates, the psi emitter, was used to lure the xenomorphs to several worlds.[27] In addition, more than a year before the outbreak of war, the Confederacy had quietly increased its troop strength through kidnapping of civilians, inflicting neural resocialization on them.[28]

One test area was Chau Sara, an important colony and headquarters of Alpha Squadron. The Squadron was recalled when the Sons of Korhal invaded the world, and were posing too much of a threat to the local militia. Alpha Squadron defeated the Sons of Korhal, but encountered the xenomorphs and the mysterious Confederate military/scientific organization, Cerberus Recon Squad, during the battle.[29]

The creatures were the subject of high-level research, but had taken over the Flannum Installation where they were being studied and had surrounded it. Cerberus Recon Squad and Alpha Squadron defeated the xenomorphs[30] and entered the facility. Inside, they discovered evidence that the xenomorphs may have been more intelligent than previously believed (they were holding the scientists prisoner). Nonetheless, the xenomorphs were defeated.[31]

The xenomorphs besieged Chau Sara's capital city of Los Andares, forcing Alpha Squadron to come to the rescue. Once again the xenomorphs were defeated.[32] The Colonial Magistrate believed that establishing a tight perimeter around the city would further protect it, but Cerberus Recon Squad preferred to attack their primary Hive Clusters instead, and, taking over the colony's government, forced Alpha Squadron to cooperate with them. After defeating the xenomorphs, Cerberus Recon Squad instituted a class 7 seal, ordered all witnesses to the battles not to inform anyone else of what had happened. Alpha Squadron and Cerberus Recon Squad left the planet, believing that the threat was dealt with. This occurred approximately one month before the destruction of Chau Sara.

Left to its own devices and unable to call for reinforcements or even warn the other terrans, Chau Sara could not defend itself from the alien invaders.[33]

Chau Sara, Brontes and Dylar IV were infested by the zerg in 2499. On December 8, Chau Sara was incinerated from orbit by the Koprulu Expeditionary Force. As the protoss fleet made its way towards Mar Sara, the Confederacy launched a clumsy counterattack[4] and sent a new Magistrate to safeguard the colonists and keep their state of panic from escalating any further.[36] The Confederacy was struck by an economic downturn due to fear of terrorist and alien attacks.[37]

Over the next four days, Confederate traffic increased substantially within the Sara system. The Confederacy quarantined Mar Sara. Forty-eight hours before they were to proceed with the lock-down, General Edmund Duke told the Magistrate to relocate the core colonists to the Wasteland.[38]

The Confederacy continued to avoid action against the zerg.[40] The Confederates were interested to learn about, but not fight, the zerg on Mar Sara.[2] The Confederates deployed assets to observe and hide their activities, and a marine platoon was used to secure and destroy of a classified piece of equipment, a psi-emitter, when they withdrew.[28]

Raynor and his men were liberated from the Confederate prison ship by the Sons of Korhal. The Confederacy abandoned Mar Sara three hours after the colonial evacuation. The chaos of their evacuation allowed Raynor to raid the Jacobs Installation, access the Confederate network and steal secret information on data discs.[41]

With the Confederacy's grip on the fringe worlds weakened, Antiga Prime was ready to begin open revolt against them. Aware of this, the Confederacy stationed a large detachment of Alpha Squadron troops there. Duke's officer in the Antigan command center was killed by Kerrigan, stirring up a full-scale revolt[42] that sent the Confederates into a state of panic.[43]

The Norad II crash-landed on Antiga Prime when it was attacked by the zerg.[44] Duke transmitted a priority one distress call to Confederate headquarters, but he was saved by Raynor and convinced to join forces with Mengsk.[43]

The Confederacy discovered the Sons of Korhal position and sent a large strike force to establish a base camp within their defensive perimeter.[35] They hoped the trapped rebels and zerg would destroy each other, allowing the Confederacy to mop up and retake Antiga.[37] The strike force was annihilated by zerg lured there by a psi emitter that Kerrigan planted in their base camp.[35]

The Confederate government and military could not defeat the forces arrayed against it, and resorted to desperate and heavy-handed media manipulation to control its citizens and swell the ranks of its military in order to fend off the aliens.[2] However, as the conflict went on, the people had begun to lose faith in the Confederacy, seeing it as weak and ineffectual against both the aliens and Mengsk, with even the media beginning to turn against the Confederate Council.[37]

The central platform above Tarsonis fell to Alpha Squadron.[46]Adjutant 23-46 then intercepted a transmission of Mengsk revealing to Kerrigan and Raynor that he authorized the use of psi emitters.[47][48] Despite bitter fighting, the Confederacy's best defenses were overrun and Tarsonis' major cities and industrial centers were devastated by the zerg.[13] The Confederates created the psi disrupter, but were unable to utilize it.[49] They were also too late to use diamondbacks.[50]

Having destroyed the Confederacy, Mengsk formed the Terran Dominion and reinforced its armies by forcefully conscripting the remaining Confederate warriors.[51] Children of the Old Families were hunted down and executed by the Dominion.[52]

In 2504, revelations on Mengsk's involvement in the destruction of the Confederacy and the fall of Tarsonis would turn into full scale riots against his regime after Jim Raynor revealed data on Mengsk's leading of the zerg to Tarsonis to the public.[57] Mengsk would later launch a crackdown to suppress the unrest a year later.[58]

In theory each Confederate planet had its own senators, but in every meaningful way, the Confederacy was ruled from Tarsonis City.[13]

The Confederate government consisted of a Senate[4] based out of Nagglfar Hall[3] (which was elected)[59] and a Council.[37] The Senate was generally viewed as corrupt,[4] but so was the Council. The latter is noted for having no mandate from the people. The Old Families also wielded a large degree of political influence.[37]

Colonial magistrates from colonies such as Mar Sara and Chau Sara had links with the Confederate government though were considered expendable.[29]

The Confederacy had a limited amount of tolerance for "other faiths."[2]

The Confederate Armed Forces,[4] was the military arm of the Terran Confederacy. While not as corrupt as other Confederate institutions like the Council or Senate, the military was generally regarded as unreliable when it came to defending the colonies.[2] It was willing to engage in morally questionable acts to satisfy its political masters.[20][12] It had its own code of justice.[19]

Confederacy squadrons consisted of conscripts and ex-criminals from all over the sector. Many were forced to undergo neural resocialization.[4]

The majority of the Confederate military was stationed at Tarsonis.[2] Its most potent defenses were in orbit. Three primary orbital platforms served as staging areas for the Confederate fleet. The central platform was defended by Omega and Delta Squadron troops.[46] The primary defensive weapon was the Ion cannon.[60] Over time, these defenses were engaged in over thirty major battles.[46]

The Confederacy maintained control over colonial economies by employing their workers and gaining wealth from them, while allowing local industries to wither. The Old Families would often drive colonial competitors out of business.[12]

In an early story promotion for StarCraft, "Confederate nations" were referenced, which, after experiencing resource and fuel shortages, looked to the protoss worlds as a new source.[63]

According to licensed StarCraft J!NX products, a group called the "Terran Federation" exists, which may be a synonym for the Confederacy. However, this Federation has apparently outlawed stimpacks, said ban still being enforced by the time of first contact with the zerg.[64] If the Federation is indeed the same group as the Confederacy, this creates a contradiction, as the Confederacy had sanctioned stimpack use in its armed forces by the time first contact with the zerg was made.[4]

The Terran Confederacy, along with its use of the Confederate flag, is very reminiscent of the political and social climate of Civil War era Confederate America. One such distinction is the presence of wealthy families owning and influencing much of the political and economical factors of both the real-world and StarCraft confederacies. Another similarity is the clear distinction and use of various Civil War and Confederate iconography, names and imagery, such as the city of New Gettysburg and the Confederate flag being one of the most common and well known. It possibly also emphasizes the stereotypical "red-neck" style of speech and attitude present within the games' story, units and faction, a stereotype often associated to much of the southern United States.

↑Jim Raynor: "Zerg! I don't believe this!"Arcturus Mengsk: "Believe it. I saw Zerg within Confederate holding pens myself, and that was over a year ago. It's clear the Confederates have known of these creatures for some time. For all we know they could be breeding the things!" StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Level/area: The Jacobs Installation (in English). 1998.

↑Narrative: "The Confederacy, fearing that the alienfleet's next target will be the colony of Mar Sara, has sent you to intervene. Acting as Magistrate, you are to safeguard the colonists and keep their state of panic from escalating any further." StarCraft. Vivendi Games. Rebel Yell Intro (in English). 1998.

↑Samir Duran: "Captain, I am Lieutenant Samir Duran of the Confederate Resistance Forces. I've been monitoring your attack against the Dominion, and I'd like to offer you my services and skills in return for amnesty."Alexei Stukov: "Intriguing. Lieutenant, you have absolutely no idea as to who we are or what we have come here to do. Why do you wish to side with us?"Duran: "Because my men and I have sworn to fight against the Dominion and its Emperor. Seeing as how your forces have been laying into this Dominion base, I figured we were on the same side."Stukov: "I see. How exactly do you propose to be of service to us, Lieutenant?"Duran: "Well, I possess intimate knowledge of the surrounding area. I can show you an alternate route that leads to the rear of the main Dominion base."Stukov: "Very well, Lieutenant. Consider yourself and your men the first colonial conscripts of the United Earth Directorate. Captain, see that the Lieutenant is given our full cooperation. We shall see if he's worth the effort." StarCraft: Brood War. Vivendi Games. Level/area: First Strike (in English). 1998.